Telstra smashes 5G Speed record with a 7.3Gbps download speed!

If you thought the battle for 5G supremacy was over, think again, Telstra has this morning showcased a staggering new speed record on their network that will have the eyes of telcos around the world watering.

Sure, 5.9Gbps is fast, but that’s so yesterday. Less than a year after that record, a 20% speed bump has been achieved on the live commercial Telstra 5G network.

The test took place on the Gold Coast where Telstra has long been doing it’s 5G testing, and used a smartphone test device packed with a Qualcomm next generation X70 5G Modem and RF system – one that Qualcomm expects we’ll see in some smartphones released in 2023.

That, plus the Ericsson network tech Telstra is using, and they’re stacking the deck for a solid speed test.

We all know Telstra has the biggest network footprint and I think long regarded as having the most reliable network, but in reality the offerings from Optus and TPG/Vodafone have been great challengers for Telstra’s early jump to 5G.

Now, don’t expect anywhere near that 7.3Gbps on your phone ok? What Telstra does say is that the “peak speeds of today, will become the average speeds of the future”, so with several hundred Mbps speeds now, pushing close to 1Gbps in the big wide world, there’s still room to grow.

In reality, these speed tests are a network showboating event. This announcement allows Telstra to demonstrate that it’s not sitting still, and that it works with it’s network and device partners to continue to grow and build. There will be a Telco engineer or two around the world with clinched fists pointed to the sky saying “Damn you Telstra” because everyone want’s these records.

But for average users, these tests help Telstra capitalise on their spectrum and understand what configurations achieve the best outcomes for everyday customers in the wild.

Telstra also talks about the capabilities offered by being able to slice up their network into secure chunks, allowing some users to get sensational speeds and low latency, while others don’t demand those kinds of features. The applications for this are in utilising 5G for home broadband, and offering network access to other businesses like Boost, or Aldi to ensure they get a fast reliable network, but for the record speeds you might well need to be a full Telstra customer – that’s just an example – we’re yet to see that “slicing” happen in the real-world.

Join us in the EFTM Man Cave group on Facebook and share your speed test results – let’s see what’s out there in the real world.